The Sartorialist
Interior designer Frank Roop’s Boston duplex takes its cues from his fashion-world past, with bespoke pieces perfectly tailored and sparked with a bit of glitter
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In the living room of Boston-based interior designer Frank Roop and his wife, Sharon, a custom-made sofa is upholstered in Linen Velvet by Donghia and the armchairs in a Great Plains linen by Holly Hunt; the cushions are covered in Polidoro velvet by Manuel Canovas. The Syrian inlaid tables and Mathieu Matégot cocktail tables are vintage, the photographs are by Didier Massard and Laura Letinsky, and the wall covering is by Cannon/Bullock.
Slicing through Boston’s historic Back Bay is a street that is an elegant collision of disparities. Its 19th-century townhouses, brick sidewalks, and vest-pocket gardens give it Edith Wharton charm, but the skyscrapers looming on its margins add an urban edge. Small wonder this thoroughfare a stone’s throw from the Charles River won over interior designer Frank Roop, whose duplex successfully juggles a similarly spirited mixture of then and now.
Located on two floors of an 1865 brownstone, the high-ceilinged apartment was just the ticket for the designer and his wife, Sharon, who works for Neiman Marcus. The effervescent couple—they met at fashion-design school 18 years ago—had outgrown their condominium nearby and needed more square footage for entertaining. Cocktail parties for 60 are not uncommon. But it wasn’t just the expanding guest list that encouraged the Roops to make the move. There was the challenge of making a statement on a larger scale. "Honestly," the designer says, "I couldn’t wait to get my hands on those 12-foot-high rooms."
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